Forensics lab for computer crime opened in Kampala

By  Stephen Otage.

With computer aided theft now becoming rampant in the country, a private hacking forensics consulting company has opened a laboratory to train Ugandans in cyber security.

According to Mr Mustapha Mugisa, one of the consultants at Summit Consulting, their forensics laboratory will give Ugandans world class specialised training that otherwise would have required them to go and get it from the US.

They have partnered with the International Council of Electronic Commerce Consultants, the owners and creators of the famous Certified Ethical hacker and Computer Hacking Forensics Investigator.

This follows reports that there is still very little knowledge about computer security among computer users in Uganda, a loophole hackers have taken advantage of to hack into government websites, data bases, banks, mobile telecommunication companies as well as individuals to steal vital information that has led to theft of colossal sums of money.

Affected

Locally, MTN Uganda is among the mobile telephone companies that have been rocked by cases of computer aided theft of money, especially in its Mobile Money platforms. The database of Uganda Revenue Authority, a government parastatal, was also recently hacked into with the hackers making off with Shs2 billion.

In February this year, former Rubaga North MP Singh Katongole lost over Shs300 million to hackers who hacked into his e-mail and corrupted communication between him and his suppliers in China by making him pay money into false accounts.

According to Mr James Saaka, the executive director National Information Technology Authority Uganda (NITA-U), the government has been underlooking computer aided fraud, until 2010 when the authority was formed. He says the most affected companies are those operating mission-critical-systems.

Source: Daily Monitor (11/03/2013): http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Forensics-lab-for-computer-crime-opened-in-Kampala/-/688334/1716526/-/1590cm1z/-/index.html